18th c. Chinese carved mother of pearl circular gaming counter earring 925 silver & akoya pearls. eror520

18th-century antique Chinese mother-of-pearl carved and engraved circular gaming counter earrings, featuring sterling silver wire and Akoya pearls. The disks showcase similar yet distinct images; the fronts are etched with human figures and decorative borders, while the backs display ornamental circular etchings. The iridescent mother-of-pearl makes it challenging to fully capture the etching details in photographs. Each disk measures 2.1 inches (54mm) in diameter and is 1.5mm thick. They dangle from 6mm Akoya pearls and sterling silver ear wires, with a total length of 2.25 inches from the top of the ear wire. These earrings are comfortably lightweight, each weighing 3.2 grams

This 200+ year old, hand-engraved gaming chip was created in China for export to Britain's aristocracy of the day. During the early 1700's, wealthy European families commissioned Chinese artisans to make finely engraved sets of mother-of-pearl gaming counters for use in parlor games such as Ombre, Quadrille, Loo and Whist. The demand for these miniature works of art declined after 1840 when card games that did not require gaming tokens became more popular. The shells were ground flat, shaped, polished and engraved,150-300 years ago, and all by hand! The particular large mollusk that provided these large flat shells was hunted to extinction to supply this trade.